William Hague says Blair as EU president would be the worst option for Britain, saying "most people would be extremely annoyed" and that his appointment would "underline the lack of accountability and democracy that is our objection to the Lisbon treaty". (The Times)

Ambassadors from Ireland and Uganda, along with the Sudanese minister overseeing negotiations, visit Al-Fashir in a renewed effort to win the freedom of aid workers Sharon Cummins and Hilda Kawuki, kidnapped since 3 July. (RTÉ)

A suspected suicide car-bomber kills 49 people in the Pakistani city of Peshawar in an attack that the government said underscored the need for an all-out offensive against the Pakistani Taliban. (Reuters)

Two people die after being overcome by sweat and about 19 others are hospitalised at a spiritual retreat in Arizona, USA. (BBC)

China pledges to rescue the crew aboard the Chinese ship De Xin Hai after it is hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. The pirates threaten to kill the crew if there is any attempt to rescue them. (Xinhua)(CNN)(The Guardian)

At the end of their three-week synod in the Vatican, more than 200 AfricanRoman Catholicbishops issue a 12-page document urging what they call corrupt political leaders on the continent to repent their sins or resign and criticising multinational companies who exploit and destroy the earth. (BBC)(Reuters)(CBC)

The Lebanese army says it has found and deactivated four 107-mm rockets in the garden of a partly built house a day after a rocket fired from Houla hit the northern Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona. This is the fifth time rocket attacks have been used to try to break the cease-fire. (Reuters)

A video of the kidnapped Irish priest Father Michael Sinnott is released by his captors in the Philippines. The kidnappers want a $2 million (€1.36 million) ransom. It is the first evidence that Sinnott is still alive since his abduction on 11 October. (RTÉ)